‘Serious risk’ around £3m development of Castlederg sports pitch

A ‘serious risk’ has emerged around plans for a £3m upgrade of a sports facility in Castlederg.

The proposed project would see a new state-of-the-art 3G multi-sports pitch with floodlighting being built at Mitchell Park. Work on the scheme, which would also include a new greenway around the pitch and a sports education room, had been due to get underway earlier this year. However, issues have arisen which Derry City and Strabane District Council has admitted could have ‘significant consequences for the delivery of the project’.

The plans for Mitchell Park are part of the £6.5m Derg Active Project (DAP), which secured funding in 2021 from the British Government’s UK Levelling Up Fund.

Along with the ambitious plans for Mitchell Park, the DAP also involved a major public realm scheme in the Diamond area of Castlederg and a new playground at Castle Park.

The public realm and Castle Park elements of the project have been completed but there are concerns over the Mitchell Park plans.

One of the main issues is that the funding secured for the development must be spent by March 2026.

Originally, the deadline for the spending of the money was March this year but the government recently allowed a one-year extension.

The Mitchell Park plans are being managed by the council, who have provided 10% of the total costs alongside the Levelling Up money.

In a report on the current situation, which will discussed at a council meeting today, the council says the Mitchell Park project has been delayed due to planning issues, including ‘periodic and sustained objections’, the historical flooding issues on Lower Strabane Road and the development’s close proximity to the River Derg.

The reports states that planning permission for the Mitchell Park work was approved on February 4 this year, with 27 ‘planning conditions’ in place.

The council said four of the conditions required additional consultation with statutory agencies before they could be ‘fully discharged’.

One planning conditions stated that prior to commencing works on site the contractor had to submit a Construction Environmental Management Plan (CEMP) for approval by the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA).

A CEMP is a document that outlines how a construction project will manage and minimize potential environmental impacts.

The council said the contractor submitted the CEMP on February 14.

The council report states: “The contractor for the project was formally appointed to undertake the work on 27th February 2025 in anticipation that NIEA would respond within the three week timescale the other statutory consultees responded in.

“It has now been 11 weeks and this process has still not been concluded.

“To date, two of the four elements have been discharged, however Council has been unable to get an indication as to when it might expect NIEA to respond to the submitted consultee responses, despite written requests to NIEA from the Council’s CEO.

“Given the continued lack of any response from NIEA Planning has confirmed that this planning condition cannot be discharged in the absence of a response from NIEA.”

The report says the council has been accruing an ‘inflation linked increase in the tender price each month’ as the wait continues for the work at Mitchell Park to begin.

“The current situation has significant consequences for the delivery of the project,” the report warns.

“Additionally, due to the close proximity to the River Derg, there are seasonally dependent works which must be undertaken before 31st May 2025. This represents a serious risk towards the delivery of the project.”

The situation around the Mitchell Park project will be discussed today at a meeting of the council’s Health and Community Committee.

Councillors will be asked to ‘consider what other course of action could be undertaken’ to help address the current problems.

The Strabane Chronicle contacted the NIEA this week and asked about the delay in responding to the planning issues around the Mitchell Park project.

When asked why the agency has not responded to the CEMP submission made to the agency in February 2025 in relation to the proposed development of Mitchell Park in Castlederg, a NIEA spokesperson said: “NIEA is are currently experiencing a very heavy workload of planning casework resulting in delays to planning consultation responses.

“NIEA is focusing all resources on making responses as soon as possible and, as a consequence, is not providing detailed responses to any requests for updates. This application will be responded to in full as soon as possible.”